Monday, January 25, 2010

As I said last night, the Washington )#$%ing Post has absolutely no critical credibility with anyone in the art world outside of DMV. And it should be obvious from last night, too, that many people in DC feel the same way.

138 people showed up on a freezing night! DMV stands for DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Read his report here.

Pink Line also reported on the panel and her report also is a good read.

Many people who attended the panel discussion were upset that the Dawson article wasn't thinky enough for them. It wasn't meant to be thinky! In fact, I'm not so sure any of the writing in a newspaper is meant to be thinky. Several suggested that we need a publication dedicated to art reviews in DC. Not a bad idea! It would fill the gap that a paper like the Washington Post can't fill. Wish there were a way to make such a print publication financially viable. Perhaps an online forum would do the trick?

Some were upset that the article was too negative and didn't uplift our art community. Kriston [Capps] said newspaper writers do not have a responsibility to uplift an art scene and build community. Their job is to write stories that people want to read. When writers pitch stories to their editors, the stories must have an angle or a hook that will compel people to read the paper. This is the nature of journalism.

I'm sort of a title fanatic when it comes to artwork, and often as the artwork itself develops, it reveals a title to the artist - unless that artist is a lazy bum with a propensity for "Nude #9" or a myriad of "untitled" as titles.

A perfect example of this is my drawing Woman on the Moon about to be swept off her feet by a Flying Bald Man.

"Woman on the Moon about to be swept off her feet by a Flying Bald Man"Charcoal on Paper, c. 2005. 6 x 4.5 inches

When I started this drawing, it was just the female figure with her arms wide open. As I introduced the dark charcoal around her, a flying figure revealed itself amongs the layers of charcoal and I grabbed the kneaded eraser and worked the charcoal to reveal a figure of a flying bald man. Titling the drawing was then super-easy.

What are good titles for works of art. Damien Hirst is a bad artist with good titles: The Shark is "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living." The crappy skull is called, "For the Love of God." There's always, Courbet's "The Origin of the World;" Morton Schamberg's "Portrait of God;" and Picabia's "Portrait of Cezanne."

And do far he's received 154 responses.

Cool question uh? So let me copy Jerry's interesting question and ask: what are some good titles? Let me know in the comments.